The 2011 Memphis mayoral election took place on October 6, 2011. Incumbent Mayor A C Wharton, who was first elected in a 2009 special election, ran for re-election to a full term. He was challenged by a large field of candidates, the most well-known of whom were former City Councilmember Edmund Ford, Sr., and County Commissioner James Harvey. Wharton, who won the 2009 election in a landslide, remained popular, and won the "enthusiastic endorsement" of the Commercial Appeal, which praised his "considerable skills in efforts to attract new job-creating industries to Memphis" and "balanced approach in June during a difficult budget season."
Wharton ultimately won re-election by a wide margin, receiving 65 percent of the vote to Ford's 28 percent and Harvey's 3 percent.